Victims traumatised for years

Victims at St Ninian’s School in Falkland had come from troubled backgrounds only to be trapped in a cycle of abuse.

Orphans and children from broken homes, they had been sent to St Ninian’s by social work departments and children’s hearings.

These were vulnerable boys aged between 11 and 16 who needed care and compassion.

Instead they were subjected to sexual abuse and physical violence.

Paul Kelly supervised junior pupils at night and used a bedroom on the same corridor as the dormitories.

Boys would sometimes see a child being taken away and returning in a state of distress.

There was talk of abuse taking place in a cellar of the building which was dubbed “the dungeon”.

The school was open from 1952 to 1983, with the majority of the offences being committed in the years shortly before it closed.

Those who suffered at the hands of the Brothers went on to lead chaotic lives.

Some abused drugs, some selfharmed and others turned to criminality.

Meanwhile, their abusers got on with their lives.

John Farrell became a Catholic priest and retired to a home run by the church.

And Paul Kelly became head teacher of St Boniface’s Catholic College in Plymouth, where he worked for 27 years. Some of the victims were terrified about speaking out, having kept the abuse to themselves for decades.

A number had not even told their families prior to the trial.